Japan's Been Hit With An Earthquake Measuring 7.3 On The Richter Scale & A Tsunami Warning Has Been Issued

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 hit northern Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. They are also issuing tsunami advisories for much of the nation's northern Pacific coast. The epicentre of the earthquake, which was felt in Tokyo, was off the coast of the Fukushima prefecture at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles). There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The Tokyo Electric Power Co is checking its nuclear plants in Fukushima for damage, a public broadcaster for the NHK said. The utility company could not immediately be reached by Reuters.

The Tohoku Electric Power Co also said that there was no damage to its Onagawa nuclear plant. Television footage showed ships moving out to sea from the Fukushima harbor, as the meteorological agency warned of a tsunami of 3 metres (10 feet), where Tepco's Daiichi nuclear plant was devastated in a March 2011 quake and tsunami. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. Japan also accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

The March 11, 2011, quake was a magnitude 9, the strongest quake in Japan on record. The massive tsunami it triggered caused world's worst nuclear crisis since Cher Nobel, a quarter of a century earlier. The US Geological Survey initially put Tuesday's quake at a magnitude of 7.3 but down graded it to 6.9. All nuclear plants on the coast threatened by the tsunami have been shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Only two reactors are operating in Japan, both in the southwest of the country. Even when shut down, nuclear plants need cooling systems operating to keep spent fuel cool. So, this is a rather tense situation.